TGS/ToM Time Sequence? **some spoilers**

[chones]

Hi. I am currently doing a reread of the entire series in expectation of AMoL this Spring. Anyway, I finished up TGS last night and I am currently reading ToM as I write this. I wanted to pose a question to y'all since it has been bugging me. Did any of you notice the odd way in which Sanderson started ToM with the chapter "Apples First" which begins with Rand descends from Dragonmount after he has his inner battle? Next time we see Rand is when he approaches Egwene in Tar Valon after she has already unified the Tower. Then, we cut to Perrin and we see that they are still moving north from Malden when they confront Galad and the Whitecloaks.

 

The thing I cannot understand is that all of this should have happened BEFORE Rand's Travel to Dragonmount, right? I mean in the final chapters of TGS Cadsuane, through Nynaeve's conversation with Rand, is able to locate Perrin (and thus Tam). But Rand's visions of Perrin clearly have point her towards the spot near the the fallen statue near the Jehannah Road. Moreover, Tam reveals that Morgase is with Perrin during his conversation with Rand in Tear---but according to the way the ToM is laid out, Morgase has yet to reveal herself. By placing the opening chapter with Rand descending from Dragonmount, the Perrin story arc (and Morgase's for that matter) seems a little bit out of kilter. Perhaps I missed something or something else I've forgotten is revealed further in ToM, but the odd time sequence is really bothering me this time around. Anyone else notice this? Hopefully this post makes sense.

[Majsju]

When Brandon realized he had to split AMOL into three separate books, he decided to have the first two focused on certain characters. TGS is focused on Rand and egwene, TOM on Mat and Perrin. So in TOM, Mat and Perrin are playing catch-up with Rand and Egwene.

[Sharaman]

You can synch Perrin and Rand's timelines fairly easily using the VoG incident.

Similarly for Egwene, Elayne, etc.

Even for Avi, given the clouds breaking.

The serious discrepancies arise with Mat's length of stay in Andor.

The BT timeline is sufficiently fuzzy to make synching possible.

Ditto for Lan.

[yoniy0]

If you want, some have tried to do that for you. You can check out Steven Cooper's Chronology of The Wheel of Time, and this calendar for ToM.

[chones]

When Brandon realized he had to split AMOL into three separate books, he decided to have the first two focused on certain characters. TGS is focused on Rand and egwene, TOM on Mat and Perrin. So in TOM, Mat and Perrin are playing catch-up with Rand and Egwene.

 

Yea, I get that. I was merely struck this time around, and a little disjointed, by the organizational layout of the book itself. Perhaps in my first read of ToM, I was so excited to finally get the book and sit down and read it that I never really paid attention to anything but the story itself, this time I am finding all sorts of oddities through my reread. Sometimes they're innocuous; sometimes, like this, at least for me, frustrating as a reader. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the reread. It's weird that I found myself enjoying different story arcs from those I originally identified with as a youth. Who would have thought that Nynaeve (and especially Lan's character development), although enjoyable the first time around, would be my favorite plot line this go round!? It's funny after I finished ToM a little while ago I experienced a little bit of WoT withdrawal since the final book isn't due out for awhile but also a little bit of apprehension in the fact that it's finally ending. I mean, Jordan's story has been an odd (and sometimes frustrating--CoT) companion for over 13 years. Anyway...